Olene mendosa
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~30%
Olene mendosa, the brown tussock moth or hairy tussock moth, is a species of moth in the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Jacob Hübner in 1823. It is found in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand and Australia.
Sexes show dimorphism with variable colour morphs. The wingspan of the female is about 46–54 mm, whereas the male's is about 30–40 mm. The adult male has two morphs. The common form is smoke brown with uniformly brown forewings and pale greyish hindwings. In the forewing, black specks and a pale patch outside the subbasal line can be seen.
The adult female also has two forms with an areole on each forewing and they lack the white colored portions on forewings which is found on male. The common form has an irregular longitudinal dark brown zone in the center of forewing. The more rare form has pale colours. The underside of the wings are similar in both sexes with less pronounced markings.
The full-grown caterpillar is 38–44 mm long. It is hairy with four white or brown dorsal tussocks. It is greyish brown with a crimson-reddish head, legs and prolegs. Head with red stripes found on full-grown caterpillar. Pupation occurs... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Taroko National Park | 🇹🇼 Taiwan | |
| 2 | Kanha National Park | 🇮🇳 India |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Brown Tussock Moth sighting in Mumbai on a given day, based on 13 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 189th most-seen of the 362 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February and June–September
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Brown Tussock Moth in Mumbai on a given day, against under 5% in March–May and October–January, the lowest months. Those are among Mumbai's wettest months, with about 470 mm of rain a month against almost none in January.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Brown Tussock Moth sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
10th of 15
Of the 15 cities where we can rate Brown Tussock Moth sightings, Mumbai ranks 10th at about 10%. The best odds are in Yangon (Myanmar, about 20%), Taichung (Taiwan, about 10%) and Taipei (Taiwan, about 10%).
Same family: Erebidae
The closest relatives of the Brown Tussock Moth that you can see in Mumbai (family Erebidae, Underwing, Tiger, Tussock, and Allied Moths) are Footman Moth (about 10%), Banyan Tussock Moth (about 10%) and Seven-Spotted Handmaiden Moth (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Brown Tussock Moth is recorded against all the insects logged in Mumbai (13 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
